Love and Decay: Revolution, Episode Nine

by Rachel Higginson

  I felt like myself again.

  Then the tidal wave of sleep pulled me under again, and I found the sleep I’d been craving for weeks.

  Maybe for years.

  I didn’t wake again for a long time. Or at least, it felt like a long time. I no longer had any concept of time or place.

  I was somewhere new, on a new bed with clean, fresh sheets. Shay wasn’t hovering over me, and my family didn’t linger in the doorway. I was alone.

  I was also more aware than before. I felt rested this time. I hadn’t dreamed of eating flesh or drinking blood.

  I rolled to my side without sitting up. Surveying the room around me, I wondered if this would be mine. I saw my pack in the corner, and some of my clothes were folded, sitting on a shelf that hung from the wall. A small table and two chairs sat beneath it, and I could see papers scattered across the top. Notes from my niece and nephews I guessed by the look of them.

  At the foot of my bed, pushed up against the wall was another dresser. My weapons sat on top of it, cleaned and shining in the glow of the yellow-tinted lights mounted evenly throughout the room.

  Next to my head was a short nightstand displaying several bottles of water and a package of crackers. A note had been left next to them that simply said, “Slowly.”

  There was Shay. From all my years at the research station, I knew she couldn’t just let me be.

  I stretched out, testing my muscles and the aches and pains that still lingered. I needed to find out what time it was. I needed to eat something—even if it was slowly. Even if I didn’t feel like it.

  I needed to find my family and get a better account of everything that had happened while I’d been out.

  My thoughts drifted back to the council and how quickly my family had been to fight with them. Things were clearly not going smoothly between our two factions if that was Hendrix’s immediate reaction to a minor confrontation.

  My brothers could be fierce when provoked and hotheaded when it came to their women, even me. But they were also smart. They didn’t pick fights just to pick fights.

  That was Reagan’s job.

  Or Miller’s.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I saw Hendrix lose his temper like that. And I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen Nelson so emotional before. They were calm, cool and collected to the very last Zombie decapitation.

  Doubts mingled with mounting nausea. Had I made a big mistake bringing everyone here? Had I put my trust in someone that didn’t deserve it?

  Flopping to my back, I curled an arm around my waist and held myself tightly. The night before I got bitten had been one of the most terrifying battles of my life. Freeing Micah had been dangerous, stupid and completely reckless.

  But Luke was going to let him die.

  The resistance we had traveled from Colombia to aid was going to let an innocent man, a man that had risked his life to help them, die.

  We had left safety, security and near peace to jump into a war we clearly didn’t understand.

  Or at least, I didn’t.

  My entire body shivered, leaving me chilled and uncertain. Micah hadn’t been blind to his near death. He had known that Luke would abandon him and yet he’d chosen to help the resistance anyway.

  That made me wonder how many others were out there that wanted to help Luke, wanted to fight against the Colony, but they were just too scared. If it was oppression under Matthias or certain death because of Luke, wouldn’t they pick tyranny?

  I didn’t believe Luke didn’t have the resources like he’d claimed that night. Maybe he was right about not having enough men fit for fighting, but people could be trained. The people they rescued could be turned into soldiers.

  In fact, they had to be. Luke wasn’t going to win a war against Matthias if only a handful of people could fight.

  He needed to understand the assets he had. He needed to learn patience to teach them, train them into soldiers willing to fight against the evil that had made their lives hell for so long.

  I hadn’t planned to show up here and tell Luke how to run his Underground. But I wouldn’t stand by idly while he let innocent men die for him. While he did nothing to save those that risked everything to help him.

  Pushing up to my elbows I swung my legs over the side of my new bed and let my feet land on the cold ground. I sat there for a few minutes, gathering my bearings and letting my body adjust to consciousness again.

  It irritated me how weak I still was. I needed my strength back. I needed my mind back.

  I reached for the crackers and water and fed my body the sustenance and hydration it needed. After another hour or so, I’d managed to keep several crackers down, drink a full bottle of water and get dressed again.

  A small mirror hung next to the floating shelves, and I decided it was time to brave a look at myself. I cringed at what I saw. My blonde hair had come loose in the braid, sticking up all over my head. My eyes were deeply sunken in the sockets, marked with black and blue bruises beneath. My cheeks were hollow from weeks without proper nourishment. In fact, my entire body was frail looking.

  I lifted my shirt to find my ribs protruding, and my stomach was concave. Purplish bruises stretched from one side of my stomach to the other. And from my bath earlier, I knew they also painted my legs and arms. I had to assume they were from the “fits” that I threw during unconsciousness. My malnourished body wouldn’t have been able to sustain aggressive behavior.

  I kept my clothes on from earlier, deciding I would change before I crashed again. I found my brush on the nightstand and worked it through my wild hair. I tied it again in a mostly tamed braid, and slipped my boots back on. I walked to my weapons, letting my fingers trace the familiar handles and shining blades that had saved my life more than once.

  Several had been sacrificed to Zombies in the hunting shed, but I was thankful I hadn’t had to give up all of them. What was lost had been replaced and doubled. And everything had been cleaned until the silver blades gleamed in the soft light.

  I shrugged on my shoulder holster and replaced the blades that belonged in it. I had a feeling that Luke had set up camp underground because it was supposed to be safe.

  But I didn’t trust this world.

  And I found it really difficult to trust him.

  So, the blades would stay with me.

  I had no idea where I was going or even how to get around down here, but I needed out of this room and away from my thoughts.

  Feeling stronger, but not strong enough, I opened the door and found an identical corridor to all the other corridors I’d seen so far. On one end of the expansive hallway, a big white sign had been hung that announced this was Block F.

  That indicated my sleeping quarters were in Block F. I kicked myself for not looking for signs like that earlier today. If I had been able to pay attention, I would have had some idea of where I was. Or how this place worked.

  To my right metal doors interrupted the unending walls in the middle, but all of the doors were closed. To my left, the layout was almost the same except for the triangle of golden light spilling from the opening of a door that had been propped open. I decided to test it out. Maybe someone was in there that could at least point me in the right direction.

  The open door turned out to be a rec room of sorts, not unlike the one we’d had back at our Colombian station.

  And even better, my brothers were the only ones inhabiting the quiet room. The brothers I wanted to see. Not the ones that had gone to battle on my behalf earlier.

  Harrison and King sat on opposite sides of a table with a deck of cards spread out between them. They were arguing about the rules to whatever game they were trying to play and didn’t notice me slip inside until I plopped down on the couch near them.

  “The dead has risen,” Harrison said through a wide grin. “Welcome back to the land of the living, little sister.”

  I rolled my eyes, ignoring the stab of truth in his words. “Thanks.”

  King turned in his seat
so he could face me fully. “Do you need something? Should I get Shay or Hendrix or somebody?”

  I held up a weak hand to stop him, but dropped it back to my lap when I noticed how badly it shook. “Please no. I just need…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence. I didn’t know what I needed, but Hendrix hovering or Shay poking and prodding at me were the very last things I wanted.

  "How do you feel?" Harrison asked when I left my sentence unfinished. My brother's eyes swept over me, calculating my answer before I ever gave it.

  "Like hell," I answered honestly.

  Harrison's eyes narrowed. "I suppose that's to be expected. You did get munched on by a Feeder for the second time in your very short life." I glared at him. I wasn't ready to joke about it yet. He ignored me, leaning in. "Any side effects?"

  A cold sweat broke out on the small of my back. "What do you mean side effects? Like, am I craving brains?"

  He shrugged. "Yeah, that. Or maybe you feel stronger than usual? What about x-ray vision? Feel any of that?"

  "Are you kidding?"

  "How about flying. Do you feel like flying?"

  I let my unspoken concerns fade away for now. "Harrison, there is something wrong with your brain." I stood up and ignored my trembling knees and the intense urge to vomit. I leaned against their table, pretending to inspect the game they were playing. I was too fidgety to sit still and too weak to move around.

  "Hey. If a spider bite can give Peter Parker super powers, why can't a Zombie do the same thing for Page Parker?"

  I let out an exhausted sigh and gave him the finger. The middle one. The one that he would understand the best.

  "Just keep me updated," he said. "When you can suddenly leap over tall buildings in a single bound, I want to be the first to know."

  King shook his head in disbelief, although we both knew Harrison well enough that his dumb questions weren’t surprising. "Dude, you have your comics confused."

  Harrison grinned at us. “I’m hoping for the best.”

  I pressed my shaking hands to the table and leaned on them. “I’m expecting the worst.”

  King started speaking before Harrison could say anything else. “Want something to eat? There’s not much here except nuts, crackers and some dried food packets.”

  “I don’t want to eat, but I should. Nothing sounds good, so just give me whatever looks like it won’t make me puke.”

  King jumped up from his chair, and I fell into it. Harrison used both hands to gather the cards from the table. “I was losing anyway,” he muttered.

  I wanted to smile at that, but I couldn’t find the energy. Instead, I watched him stack the cards together, tapping them on the table to get them straight. His long fingers worked proficiently, splitting the cards into two piles and flipping them back together.

  We had playing cards in Colombia, and my brothers played often. I had never bothered to learn any of their games. Mostly because I couldn’t shuffle as well as them and it annoyed me to be bad at something.

  “We heard you passed your trial,” Harrison said in a low, careful voice.

  “Yeah, thanks for showing up for that,” I grumbled sarcastically. “It’s nice to know I have your support.”

  “Hey, don’t blame us,” King spoke up from where he fiddled at the counter. “Hendrix banned us.”

  I didn’t have the energy to turn around, so I raised my eyebrows at Harrison. “Hendrix banned you?”

  Harrison shrugged. “Well, someone had to watch the kids.”

  “Joss? Adela?”

  Harrison leaned forward, dropping his voice and giving the open doorway a nervous glance. “We’re trying to keep a low profile, Page. It seems that whenever we appear in large groups, it makes everyone else nervous.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean the people living here. They don’t trust us. And they really don’t like us. Plus, we have two Allens with us, a band of Colombians and a small army of Mexicans. There’s no other way to say this—we’re a threat to them. They think… well, hell, I don’t know what they think. I just know that the entire compound clears out when we’re all together. This isn’t the most stable ecosystem. We’re trying to cause as little problems as possible.”

  Pieces started clicking together for me. “That’s why Miller has been difficult?”

  Harrison snorted a laugh. “Miller is always difficult. You of all people should know that by now.” Turning serious, he added, “But yeah, Miller has had trouble towing the line. Especially with the accusations about you floating around. Things got… for a little while there, we didn’t think we’d be able to stay. They wanted to… Well, let’s just say, our family had to intervene in a not so peaceful way. Luke’s people had some major opinions about what to do with you. Eventually, Luke went to bat for you, for us, but he took his sweet time about it. Things have been tense ever since.”

  My already unsettled stomach dropped to my toes. “They wanted to kill me?”

  “A mercy killing. That’s what they called it.”

  I felt my resolve piece itself back together slowly. I imagined Micah tied to that post again and Luke’s coldhearted decision to let him die. “Yeah, I have no trouble believing that.”

  King dropped a bowl of oatmeal in front of me and a large piece of jerky. I cupped the bowl with two hands and lifted it to my face, breathing in the steam. “How?”

  “There’s a burner over there. And old oats. They have quite the food storage here. And they manage their own meat and produce, even dairy. It’s not a bad set up. It just comes with a price.”

  “Their surly behavior?” I guessed.

  King let out a slow breath. “Let’s just say it’s good that you’re finally awake.”

  “And not a Feeder,” Harrison added.

  I gave them a shaky smile that felt genuine. “Aw, you both missed me.”

  They grunted their noncommittal responses. I smiled wider.

  Someone entered the room behind me, but I was too absorbed in my hot oatmeal to turn around. It was tasteless, and the oats were stale, but it was hot, and my stomach didn’t protest too much. I called that a win.

  “Hey,” King said softly.

  And from just the tone of King’s voice, I knew it was Joss. King was only that nice to one person. And it wasn’t me.

  I heard the smile in her voice when she replied with a sweet, “Hey.” Then in surprise, she said, “Page! I wasn’t expecting to see you up and about so soon.”

  She stood behind King, so I finally turned to greet her. “I couldn’t stand lying down for another second.”

  “I get that.” Her hand dropped to King’s shoulder, and he reached up to hold it, playing with the tips of her fingers.

  God, they were gross.

  Adorable, but gross.

  Harrison ignored their groping entirely, keeping his gaze firmly on his cards. “Do you have news?”

  Joss leaned forward, dropping her voice. “There’s an entire horde.”

  My ears perked up, and I set my oatmeal down in favor of hearing this development. “Where?”

  She glanced at the ceiling. “Topside. There’s at least twenty of them.”

  “What are they going to do?” Harrison demanded.

  “They’re deciding what to do. It seems most of them want to leave them alone, let them wander along. But they’ve been up there for days. The council realizes they smell us and that the horde won’t move on. But they’ve decided not to take action.”

  “There’s a horde of Feeders directly above us, and Luke wants to let it just move along?” I couldn’t believe this.

  Joss nodded, and my brothers gave me looks that said they had been dealing with this kind of logic for weeks.

  “That makes no sense,” I said needlessly.

  Joss pumped her free hand, indicating that I should keep it down. It made me wonder how she’d come upon this information in the first place. It didn’t seem like Luke and his people were exactly forthcoming sharing it.

&nb
sp; King leaned forward and hissed his question. “Have they even considered that a gathering horde gives our position away to any Colony soldier driving by? I don’t know how these people have survived for so long. Their tactics are idiotic.”

  Harrison grunted a laugh, clearly agreeing. “Hendrix will want to go out first thing in the morning.”

  “He will?” I was completely baffled by this. Hendrix had seemed so compliant earlier. Or at least reluctantly compliant.

  Er, before the trial.

  Harrison speared me with a look. “Just because they don’t trust us doesn’t mean we don’t do what needs to be done. We’re not going to let a horde of twenty Feeders roam free.”

  “I’m going,” I declared.

  King rolled his eyes. “No, you’re not. Look at you. You can’t even hold a spoon without shaking. How will you use a blade?”

  “We’re not leaving until the morning?” Harrison and King nodded skeptically, answering my question. “And it’s only… what time?”

  “About seven,” Harrison murmured.

  “I have almost twelve hours to recover.” I decided.

  “Page, it’s not a good idea—”

  I cut King off, not wanting to be coddled or babied or treated any differently. “I need this. Do you guys know what I’ve been through?” I waited for an answer even though I knew they couldn’t give me one. I let their silence hang in the air for a minute before I confessed, “I need to kill. I need to fight. I need to find some kind of justice for the hell I just walked through and prove to myself that I’m not one of them.”

  “One of who?” Joss asked, sounding alarmed. “One of the Underground?”

  I glared at her, willing her to understand. Slowly, comprehension lit her gaze, and her eyes bulged.

  “No way,” she whispered.

  I leaned forward, clenching my hands into fists on the table. “You’re not going without me,” I told my brothers.

  “You’ll have to clear it with Hendrix,” King answered instead.

  A small smile lifted the corners of Harrison’s mouth. “And Miller.”

  I didn’t let them see the defeat I felt at those two gigantic obstacles. I shrugged it off though, knowing I would win this.